


The Way You Said I Love You: Too Quick, Mumbled Into Your Scarf

by organisedchaos



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: I love you prompts, M/M, richie toziers has shitty parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 23:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14199591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/organisedchaos/pseuds/organisedchaos
Summary: Number 30 from the The Way You Said I Love You with bichie





	The Way You Said I Love You: Too Quick, Mumbled Into Your Scarf

Richie Tozier hated winter. He hated how cold he always felt because he was underweight and never quite had enough warm clothes to wear. He hated how empty he felt on Christmas day when his parents let it pass like just another day. He hated how alone he felt when the dark nights drew in making his friends leave him earlier than usual, meaning he was left with nothing but his own thoughts for company. His friends felt him withdrawing during these cold months, his normally bright smile and cheeky jokes seeming to fade slightly but they never quite knew how to deal with it. Richie was the hardest of the group to get to open up about his feelings, choosing instead to hide behind his crude jokes and brash personality. But this year was going to be different, Bill Denbrough was going to make sure of it. 

 

Bill showed up at Richie’s early on the first Saturday morning of November, he had planned a full day of fun things and wanted start as soon as possible. Richie answered the door in his boxers and joy division t-shirt and Bill was glad to have the cold air to disguise his blush.

“Hey big Bill! What brings you to my humble abode at this early hour?” Richie said with a sleepy smile

“I was thinking muh-maybe we could hang around today, just the t-tu-two of us” he said it as more a statement than a question

“Oh uh, i don’t know Bill, it’s cold enough to freeze my balls off out there!” Richie replied, and then in one of his voices “And i need my balls big Bill, im tellin ya, i need ‘em!”

“Beep-beep Richie. Come on, I’ve p-puh-planned the whole day!” he said, fixing his own blue eyes on Richie’s and giving him a pleading look

Richie hated that look, he never could resist those baby blues. He looked at Bill, as handsome as ever in sturdy winter boots, warm coat and plaid red scarf and knew there was no way he could turn the redhead down “Yeah, okay, fine.” he relented, running a hand through his mop of dark curls “But at least let me put some pants on first. People swoon over me when i’m clothed, can you just imagine the reaction if they saw me in boxers? I’d knock em dead” he said with a wink

“If you say so Rich” but there was part of Bill that didn’t disagree, he saw the way people looked at Richie, no longer the dorky 13 year old who got picked on for his buck teeth and glasses, he’d grown into his features and people were starting to notice how attractive he really was.

Bill stood in Richie’s lounge as he waited for him to get dressed and couldn’t help but notice how threadbare it was. If it weren’t for the empty beer cans and bottles scattered around he would have thought that the room was never used. It suddenly occurred to Bill that this may be the reason Richie was so forlorn during winter and he felt a twinge of guilt for not seeing it sooner as well as an urge so fierce to protect Richie it almost floored him, he wanted to do everything in his power to make sure his best friend was happy and cared for and today was just the start.

The first thing they did was get hot cocoa and breakfast pastries from the local bakers, then they headed to the mall and spent hours admiring the decorations, playing “who can fill their basket with the most expensive items in under 10 minutes” and trying on ridiculous outfits. They found themselves laughing so hard at a particularly ugly suit Richie had found in the sale section they almost got thrown out. After lunch Bill let Richie choose a movie at the Aladdin and they spent the afternoon in the theatre (Bill spending more time watching his freckled companion than the actual movie) and to finish the day Bill’s mom cooked them dinner.

It became a regular thing. Bill had something different planned each week, they’d spend the day wandering around town, enjoying each others company, or spend the day in memorial park throwing snowballs and making snow angels. Once Bill drove them to the next town over and they spent the day looking at the Christmas markets. Richie’s favourite days though where the simplest, the days when they’d stay in Bill’s house baking cookies and listening to old records. Richie felt happy. Happier than he could ever remember feeling at this time of year and mixed with that was an overwhelming feeling of love for his friend. He’d always known he’d loved Bill - hell all of the losers did - but after these last six weeks the urge to run his hands through the boys fiery red hair and place a gentle kiss on his pink lips were almost uncontrollable. He felt dumb, Bill was doing this because he was a good friend and here Richie was, messing things up as usual. These were the thoughts plaguing Richie’s mind when Bill turned up on his door step like clock work on the morning of December 23rd.

“We’re going ice skating!” Bill said excitedly as Richie opened the door, he was wearing his winter jacket and red plaid scarf again and holding two pairs of skates by their laces. He was smiling but it faltered a little when he noticed the way Richie was looking at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how to skate” Richie was a little embarrassed, he was 16 years old for god sake, he should know how to skate

“What? It’s easy i’ll sh-sh-how you how” Bill replied, handing a set of the skates to Richie “And it’ll be really fun i pu-promise”

Bill skated beautifully, knowing exactly how to move his feet and balancing perfectly. Richie on the other hand? Bambi on ice had a more graceful look. His gangly limbs never quite managed to keep him upright and he’d fallen square on his ass four times in the first ten minutes. Bill struggled to suppress a laugh as Richie fell again, he felt bad but Richie looked so adorable he almost didn’t want to help him up.

“Here” Bill said, skating over to where Richie had landed on the ice “Take my hand I’ll guide you”

Richie took Bill’s hand as the taller boy pulled him up and felt his heart speed up at the closeness. Bill guided him around the rink, his gloved hands in Richie’s bare ones, Bill skating backwards pulling the other along. Once Richie found his feet and had a little more confidence, Bill let go.

“I’ll r-ru-race you to the other side!” Bill’s eyes glinted menacingly knowing Richie could never resist a challenge

“You’re on Denbrough!”

They got in their positions and on the count of three raced the length of the ice rink. It was a close race but Bill reached the barrier in just enough time to turn around and have Richie slam right into his front. The were laughing hard, Richie clinging on to Bill’s shoulders to keep from falling down again. When he finally composed himself he looked up at Bill, taking in his slightly red face from both the cold and from laughing, his blue eyes shining against his pale face and his slightly mussed red hair, he looked beautiful. Richie felt so overcome with emotion, of gratefulness and admiration for this amazing boy, that the tears started to fall before he could stop himself. Bill was alarmed to say the least, he’d never seen Richie cry before.

He placed a gentle cupped hand on Richie’s face and thumbed away some of the falling tears “Hey, w-w-what’s wrong?”

“I just can’t remember a time where i felt as happy as I do just now” Richie sniffled. Bill felt his heart melt and felt himself that he might be close to tears. He pulled the smaller boy, still sobbing, into a tight embrace. Richie nestled into the crook of Bill’s neck and rubbed his face against the soft fabric of the scarf resting there, and just like the tears he couldn’t stop the words that came from his mouth.

“I love you Bill”

It was quick and muffled and if Bill hadn’t been listening he’d have missed it. He placed a gentle kiss on top of Richie’s head, running his hands through the dark curls. “I love you too Richie”

**Author's Note:**

> i appreciate all feedback! im sunshinestanley on tumblr if you wanna say hi!!


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